The oldest challenge in business is dealing with people who have two faces. You know what I mean. They show you one face but really have another completely different face they don’t want to show you. Saying one thing but really meaning another. Doing one thing but really undermining you behind the scenes. It’s just one of those things in life that irritate and often can be a drain on time and resources.

Here are my thoughts on this age-old issue:

No, you are not paranoid. Given enough time, people who are two-faced will show themselves to be who they are. It’s almost impossible for them not to. You’ll eventually be able to verify for yourself that they wear two-faces.

Being two-faced is natural for humans. People are people and there will always be some who just can’t help themselves – it’s in their behavioral “genes”.

You will not cure them. It’s life and so we move on.

No, I will not have a beer with them. When I find them out, I’ll work with them of course in the spirit of professionalism but we’re not going to be buddy-buddy and have a beer after hours or anytime in between. It’s bad enough I have to deal with them knowing they are so phony.

Never let them know. The worst thing you can do is to try to expose them (“You’re so two-faced”) – not productive or helpful. It’s enough that you know what you know.

As irritating as they are to me, two-faced people are a fact of life and we must deal with them the best we can. In the long run, I think it’s always better to know who they are and keep them at a respectable distance without offending them. They can’t help themselves.

I own a great Samsung DLP TV and have had it for about five years. Just recently the color started faltering so I went online and sent a request on the Samsung service site for some…service. A few days later I received an email from someone from the CA offices of Samsung. Their email stated in part that they would make three attempts to contact us to arrange service. He noted in his email that this was their first attempt. So…I emailed him back the same day – thinking time was everything.

The next day – after only the first attempt – Samsung sent me an email to let me know they cancelled my request for service. No reason. Just canceled. So, I emailed the nice fellow (had no phone number or otherwise I would have just called him). I let him know that I had just rec’d a note from Samsung stating they cancelled my service request and that I in fact WANTED service – a paying customer!

Result: Nothing. No email response. No nothing. And of course, no service. Well, that was the end of my efforts to work directly with Samsung and their dedicated service provider.

Ok. So the next day I go online and find a local TV repair service. I fill out the service request form and send it via their website. Result: No call since and it’s been three days. I guess they are just too busy for a PAYING CUSTOMER like myself. What business are these people in?

What to do? I turn to Sears. I go online and within a few minutes am able to schedule a service appointment. Done. Now let’s see if they show up. I’ll let you know how this saga plays out in a subsequent blog post. Stay tuned.

UPDATE 070213: So Sears won the day. Not only was I easily able to set up an appointment for a repair person to come out to my house they also called to confirm the appointment (on top of the email confirmation). The repair person was professional, clean and knew his stuff. Problem solved for only $99.00 (which is credited to any repairs too).

Those other guys who never called me? I found out later that they are just about out of business. No wonder.

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